MEDFORD, Mass. (AP) - Five students at Tufts University have begun a hunger strike over plans to cut about 35 janitorial jobs at the end of May.
The Boston Globe reports that more than 80 students, janitors and families of the staff gathered outside the main administrative building Sunday to mark the start of the strike.
The student group organizing the demonstration, the Tufts Labor Coalition, says the cuts would mean one in six custodians at the school would lose their jobs.
A spokeswoman for the university north of Boston says the school supports the students' right to protest but says the cuts will help direct resources to Tufts' "core educational mission."
Freshman Mica Jarmel-Schneider says he's joining the strike because the janitors' contract prohibits them from going on strike and that "we're doing this for them because of our relative privilege."
Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
